Download - A Note on Philippine Mix-Mix · A Note on Philippine Mix-mix ELIZABETH M. MARASIGAN This article is an analysis of Mix-mix (combination of Pilipino and English at different language

philippine studiesAteneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines

A Note on Philippine Mix-Mix

Elizabeth M. Marasigan

Philippine Studies vol. 34, no. 3 (1986) 338–359

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Philippine Studies 34 (1986): 338-59

A Note on Philippine Mix-mix ELIZABETH M. M A R A S I G A N

This article is an analysis of Mix-mix (combination of Pilipino and English at different language levels) used by Pilipino-English bilinguals in natural interaction settings. It attempts to identify the factors that initiate code-switching among Pilipino-English bilinguals, to establish when and to what extent they switch codes and to interpret the social meaning of this switching.

H I S T O R I C A L D E V E L O P M E N T O F MIX-MIX

When the Americans took over the Philippines the Filipinos learned democracy through, among other means, radical reforms in education using the English language. The role of the Ameri- can soldiers and the painstaking efforts of the First Philippine Commission to survey the sociolinguistic situation in the country paved the way for the adoption of English as the language of instruction in schools. The choice of English was considered reasonable and was wholeheartedly accepted by the people due to the following factors: the multiplicity of Philippine languages and dialects, the unavailability of teaching materials in any Philippine languages, the lack of a common language of wider communication, the realization that through English, the sciences and culture of the Western world would be within the reach and the fact that i t could be a unifying element in their linguistically fragmented society.' Advocates of the vernaculars, however, voiced the argu-

1. David Tovera, "A History of English Teaching in the Philippines From Unilin- gualism to Multilingualism" (Ph. D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1975), PP. 25-26.

PHILIPPINE MIX-MIX 339

ment that instruction, especially in the primary grades, should not be limited to English but should include the vernacular in order to preserve the culture of the natives to produce literates, to bridge the gap between the school and the home, where vernacular is the medium. They also mentioned the high drop-out rates in grade four which could be due to the language of instruction f a ~ t o r . ~

The 1934 Constitutional Convention debates on common national language were characterized by each major region sponsoring its respective language. The provision for the evolvement and development of a common national language based on existing languages was a p p r ~ v e d . ~ However, President Manuel L. Quezon insinuated that Tagalog should be the basis of the national lan- g ~ a g e . ~ Soon after the ratification of the 1935 Constitution and the formation of the Commonwealth government, the National Assembly passed Commonwealth Act No. 184, or the National Language Law, authored by Norberto Romualdez.

With the enactment of the law, the National Language Institute was established. In 1937, ten months after the start of the institu- tion, the members recommended the choice of Tagalog as the basis of the national language and mandated its codification. A subse- quent executive order stipulated the teaching of the national language in 1940 and another commonwealth act made the national language an official language, effective upon the granting of inde- pendence in 1946. In the same year, the national language began to be taught as a subject in all grades, from grade one to fourth year high scho01.~

Soon after there were studies on the teaching of the national language (Mariano in 1949, Catindig in 1947 and Zamora in 1956) or Pilipino literature (Matute in 1956) as well as publications by foreigners (Wolfenden in 1958, Pittman in 1957 and McKaughan in 1958) and a periodical Wikang Pambansa (which began monthly publication in 1950)." Also with the official encouragement given

2. Ibid. 3. "Consolidated Committee Reports on the Proposed Constitution of the Philip-

pines," 1972. (Mimeographed.) 4. Andrew Gonzalez, Language and Nationalism: The Philippine Ezpcrience Thus

Far (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1980), p. 58. 5. Ibid., p. 60. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., p. 106.

340 PHILIPPINE STUDIES

to Tagalog-based Pilipino, a new generation of writers emerged, successors to Balagtas in the nineteenth century and to Lope K. Santos and the zarzuelistas of the prewar era. In terms of cultiva- tion Pilipino was attaining a level of achievement leading toward respectability, and had begun to acquire respectability as a language of scholarly discourse during this same period.'

Since then a significant increase in the acceptance of Pilipino has occurred. This fact is accounted for by the promulgation of the 1974 Bilingual Education Policy which aims to make Filipinos competent not only in English but also in Pilipino. Promulgation was made despite the existence of the Language Provision of the 1973 Constitution that states that the National Assembly shall take steps toward the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as pi lip in^.^

The acceptance of Pilipino did not, however, result in the non- acceptance of English. Studies show that Filipinos use both languages depending on what they talk about, where, when, and with whom.' Circulation figures of newspapers show a definite trend towad bilingualism. The Sun, a bi-weekly newspaper- -now no longer in circulation--had the distinction of being the first periodical to put PilipineEnglish code-switching in print. Taliba, a daily newspaper, which used to be in Pilipino, followed the trend. The Philippines Daily Express published in Manila with 300,000 circulation also came out in Pilipino-English or Mix-mix. At present, other newspapers, magazines, comics and other forms of mass media such as television shows, radio programs, movies, billboards are in Mix-mix. Students and professionals are now heard using Mix-mix to communicate with each other instead of using English or Pilipino. Where English alone was considered the most necessary language for success, today it is a language omb bin at ion of English and Pilipino which is deemed a sine qua

8. Ibid., p. 107. 9. Ibid.

10. See Fe Otanes and B. Sibayan, Language Policy Survey of the Philippines: Initial Report (Manila: Language Study Center, Philippine Normal College, 1969); Angela Barrios, et al, "The Greater Manila Speech Community: Bilingual or Diagnostic?" in Filipino Bilingual, ed. E.M. Pascasio (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1977); and Emy M. Pascasio, "Dynamics of Code-Switching in the Business Domain," Philippine Journal of Linguistics9 (112, 1978): 40-50.

11. Fortunata Azores, "A Preliminary Investigation of the Phenomenon of Language Change in the Philippines" (M.A. Thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 196 7).


non for effective communication. This fact is supported not only by the Philippine Normal College survey data on the study of twenty-one occupations,' but by the researcher's observation of the actual language use in the Philippines at present. Seemingly, the Filipinos feel that by using Mix-mix, they become a part of the mainstream of contemporary Philippine life.'

Mix-mix therefore is a result of the systematic combination of English and Pilipino which only those with good control of both languages can make. The speakers of this variety are educated Filipinos--students, professionals and nonprofessionals who studied in Philippine school^.'^ Mix-mix is also spoken by very young children who hear it from their parents and thus learn it as a first language. Since Metro Manila has a higher concentration of English and Pilipino speakers, it is not surprising that speakers of Mix-mix generally come from this area.

Mix-mix is spoken in school campuses, shopping areas, offices, homes, etc. It is spoken during informal parties, meetings and other social gathcdngs. Unlike most creoles, Mix-mix is not in- ferior to either Englfsh or Pilipino standard languages in social status. It has not acquired the sociolinguistic stigma of a second class or uncivilized language.' Neither is it used as a secret language of a community. As a matter of fact it has apparently gained prestige in the country because of its use by the educated and the elite.'

M E T H O D O L O G Y

The corpus of this study was made up of three types of data. The first type of data consisted of taped natural conversations of randomly selected adults and children in the school campus. The adults were teachers residing in Metro Manila. They taught at three different educational levels--primary, secondary, and

12. Otanes and Sibayan, Language Policy Survey, p. 1 26. 13. Bonifacio Sibayan. "Views on Language Identity: Limited Metro Manila Example,"

paper read at the Regional Seminar on Language Education in Multilingual Societies: Its Challenges and Potentials, RELC, Singapore, 18-22 April 1977.

14. Barrios, et al, "The Greater Manila Speech Community" in Pascasio, Filipino Bilingual.

15. Marguerite Saint-Jacques Fauquenoy, "Guyanese: a French Creole," in Pidgins and Creoles: Current Trends and Prospects, ed. D . Decamp and I. Hancock (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1974), pp. 27-37.

16. Teodoro Llamzon, "Research Project on Filipino English," RELC Newsletter 12:9.


tertiary. The children were all students from exclusive Catholic schools for boys and girls. They belonged to different grade levels -from nursery to grade seven. The second type of data consisted of free written compositions by different randomly selected groups of adults and children. These adults belonged to various profes- sional fields while the children were all students. These students were in the average sections of the grade levels to which they belonged. Only those from grade three to grade seven were asked to write compositions since the teachers in the lower grades claimed that their pupils were not ready to do any writing acti- vities yet. The subjects belonging to this group were asked to write a composition about any topic using the language they were most comfortable with. The third type of data consisted of clip- pings from the Philippine mass media.

Since the corpus was too large for individual analysis, the researcher took a random sampling of data. The sampling was done at the discourse level rather than sentence level for context-bound interpretation. Twenty-two oral conversations and twenty-two written texts were included for analysis. The written texts consisted of free written compositions by eight adults (four female- an account analyst, one general ledger accountant, one store accountant, and one secretary, for male-one cashier, one accountant, and two accounting clerks), eight children (four girls and four boys-from grades three to seven) and six mass media texts (one editorial, one advertisement, one cooking section, one feature section, and one gossip column). The oral texts consisted of thirteen adults' conversations, six children's conversations and three conversations between children and adults. Even distribution of conversations and written texts was not quite possible. Although the selection in the study was random, it was greatly affected by the availability of the data for analysis. The same number of children and adult conversations were taped but it was discovered in the end that not all of them could be used for the purpose of the study. Six mass media items were included instead of four to make the numbers of oral and written texts equal.

The taped conversations were transcribed using the regular English orthography and analyzed in the same way as the written texts. Each piece of conversation, each paragraph, each news item,


etc., was analyzed as a complete discourse to be able to provide for a context-bound interpretation. It is believed that analyzing a language should be done in the context of its use and not in isolation since the meaning of language is dependent on the context where it is found. ' '

Each sentence in the selected discourse was categorized accor- ding t o language functions, conversational and written functions, and speech acts. The frequencies of appearance of each type of language functions and speech acts in the oral, the written, and the combined oral and written texts were counted and further sub- categorized into Pilipino, English and Mix-mix- The chi-square test of equal probability was applied to find out if the subjects' preference for a particular language to perform a particular language function or speech act was significant and not unlikely to occur by chance." The Mix-mix sentences, on the other hand, were re- analyzed linguistically for the purpose of describing the structure of Mix-mix at different language levels-morpheme/word, phrase, clause, and sentence.

Halliday's language functions,' ten in all, have been reduced to only six when used as parameters to analyze the data in this study. This modification, which merely involved combination of two or more categories with the same functions, was found necessary since the study consisted of both adults and children, and the latter were very much older than the child whose language was described by Halliday using the original system. Therefore the language functions discussed in the study were:

Regulatory. This is the use of language to control the behavior of others, t o manipulate the person in the environment; the 'do as I tell you' function. This is a combination of the instrumental and the regulatory functions. Personal. This is the expression of identity, of the self, which develops largely through linguistic interaction; the 'here I come' function. Imaginative. This is the use of language in fantasy and play, the 'let's pretend' function whereby the reality is created, and what

17. J.R. Firth, The TechniquesofSemantics, Papers in Linguistics 1934-1 957 (London: Oxford University Press, 1957).

18. Henry Garret, Statistics in Psychology and Education (London: Longman Group Limited, 1970).

19. Michael Halliday, Exploration in the Function of Language (Great Britain: Butler and Tanner, 1973).


is being explored is the speaker's own mind including language itself. Ideational. This is concerned with the expression of content, with the function that language has of being about something. It has two parts to it, the experiential and the logical. The former is more directly concerned with the representation of experience of the 'context of culture' in Malinowski's term,20 while the latter expresses the abstract logical relations which derive only indirectly from experience. This component represents the speaker as observer. Representational. This is the use of language to express propo- sitions or to convey information, it is the 'I've got something to tell you' function. Interpersonal. This is the use of language to express the speaker's point of view, his attitudes and judgments, his encoding of the role relationships in situation, and his motive in saying any- thing at all. This component represents the speaker as intruder. This is a combination of the interactional, the heuristic, and the interpersonal functions in the original systems. All the utterances described in the study are in their context of

use. No linguistic item has been analyzed as if it were a mere entry in a dictionary. Therefore, all the utterances are believed t o have textual meaning or function. Hence, this function is not presented as a separate category.

The speech acts referred to in this study are actually called illocutionary acts by Austin, Vendler, Ohman, Fraser and Searle.2 ' These acts are performed in producing meaningful utterances. They are supposed to express the intention of the speaker in producing the speech events. Using Searle's and Ohman's terms,2

TO. Bronislaw Malinowski, Coral Gardens and Their Magic (London: Allen and Unwin, 1935).

21. J.L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words (Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press, 1962); Zeno Vendler, Res Cogitans: An Essay in Rational Psychology (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972); Richard Ohman, "Instrumental Style: Notes on the Theory of Speech as Action," in Current Trends in Stylistics, ed. B.B. Kachru and H.F. Stalks (Illinois: Linguistic Research, 1972), pp. 115-41; Bruce Fraser, "An Analysis of Performative Verbs," in Towards Tomorrow's Linguistics, ed. Roger Shuy and Charles- James Bailey (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1974), pp. 139-58; and John Searle, "A Classification of IUocutionary Acts," Language in Society 5 (1976): 1-21. -

22. Searle, "A Classification of IUocutionary Acts"; and Ohman, "Instrumental Style."


the study employed the following classification of speech acts:

Representatives. These commit the speaker (in varying degrees) t o something's being the case, t o the truth of the expressed pro- p o ~ i t i o n . ~ The degrees of commitment vary from weak cases such as hypothesizing that p t o strong cases such as solemnly swearing that p ; asserting that p; and stating that p are typical. Directives. These are attempts by the speaker t o get the hearer t o do something.24 The degrees of attempt vary from weak cases such as suggesting that you d o A t o strong cases such as commanding that you d o A. Questions are directives because they are attempts t o get the hearer t o perform a speech act.2 Other examples are requesting, praying, permitting, advising. Commissives. These acts commit the speaker (again in varying degrees) t o some future course of a ~ t i o n . ~ The degrees of commitment vary in a relatively narrow range from undertaking to do A, through promising to d o A, t o guaranteeing to do A and solemnly vowing to d o A. Expressives. These express (whether sincerely or not) a psycho- logical state in the speaker regarding a state of affairs that the expressive refers t o or presupposes but not assert. Typical expressive~ are thanking, congratulating, welcoming, d e p l ~ r i n g . ~ ' Declarations. They are like cornmissives anddirectjves in affect- ing the world, but they do so immediately, not mediately, e.g., if I have the absolute authority t o fire you, and I fire you, then you're fired.2 Represen ta five declarations. These involve a truth claim, and transcend it carrying the absolute force of a declaration.For example, if an umpire rules that the ball was in, the ball is counted in, even if it was out and was seen out by o thers2 Conditionals. These are amalgamated speech acts, joining a directive and a cornmissive, e.g., if you would,do A for me, I would d o B for you.3 O

The social meaning of significance of the language preference

23. Searle, "A Classification of Illocutionary Acts," p. 10 24. Ibid., p. 1 1 . 25. Ibid., p. 356. 26. Ibid., p. 1 1 . 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid. 30. Ohman, "Instrumental Style."


and the conversational and written functions of the switched passage of the subjects was interpreted in the light of the speaker's identification of the two varieties as 'we' and 'they' codes. The social, cultural and individual factors that initiated code-switching were discussed along with these functions and social significance. The interpretations were situational rather than general, and therefore, brief exchanges from the oral and/or few lines from the written texts were presented t o justify the interpretations. The criteria for the classification of the functions of code-switching were discussed together with the interpretation^.^ '

F A C T O R S T H A T I N I T I A T E CODE-SWITCHING

L A N G U A G E F U N C T I O N S

By and large, the data analyzed showed that the various language functions and speech acts showed little influence on the language choice of the subjects. No preference for any language was manifested by them for imaginative function3 and the commissives, declarations and conditional^.^^ The interpersonal function of language and the expressive speech acts34 were preferably expressed by the subjects in Pilipino, while the representational, regulatory, personal and ideational functions3 and the representatives and the directives3 were preferably expressed by them in Mix-mix.

The oral sentences in the corpus suggested that the subjects preferred to use Pilipino to realize the interpersonal function of language. Halliday contends that this function of language pre- sents the speaker as an intruder into the speech situation and the speech acts. Therefore, one can expect the subjects of this study to use oral languages primarily to intrude or join a conversation, to ask or answer a question, to express an opinion, etc. And if they want to intrude they should use the language that would be

31. John Cumperz, "The Social Significance of Conversational Switching," RELC Journal 8 (2, 1977): 1-26; and Pascasio, "Dynamics of Code-Switching."

32. See Halliday, "Exploration." 3 3 . C.f. Searle, "A Classification of Illocutionary Acts." 34. Ibid. 35. Halliday, "Exploration." 36. Searle, "A Classification of Illocutionarv Acts."


welcomed by others. Being the national language, Pilipino must have been surmised by the speakers to be the language that would be welcomed by the listeners since these were, for the most part, Filipinos.

A very strong preference for the Mix-mix language was shown by the subjects in the written texts. They consistently used the Mix-mix variety regardless of the language functions. This may be due to the fact that the subjects tended to use longer and more complex types of sentences in writing than in speaking. Irres- pective of the language used, the average number of words per sentence was only 4.28 in the oral text and 10.61 in the written. And the longer and the more complex the sentence is, the more words are needed to convey its meaning. The writers, therefore, need a wider range of vocabulary. The use of two languages in the same sentence facilitates conveyance of ideas since English may be used for Pilipino words which the writer cannot think at the moment of writing and vice-versa. While they may have to grope for expressions in one language to convey an experience or an idea, Pilipino-English bilinguals can effortlessly express the idea by mixing linguistic forms from different languages3

There is not much to be said about the subject's language preference in the combined oral and written texts. Evidently, the findings in the written texts affected the findings in the oral texts. Thus, the overall result indicated that the subjects preferred to use Mix-mix to carry out the representative, regulatory, and ideational funcrions of language. On the other hand, when the number of sentences used to realize the interpersonal function of language in both oral and the written texts were combined, the total indicated that their language preference was Pilipino.

S P E E C H A C T S

The speaker's intent in producing a speech showed little influence on the subjects' choice of language. In the oral texts, the subjects preferred to use Pilipino for the directives and both Pilipino and Mix-mix for the expressives. No language preference has been manifested for other speech acts.

37. Emy Pascasio, Language in its Sociocultural Context: A Sociolinguistic Approach, Research Monograph Series (Honolulu: East-West Center, Culture Learning Institute, 1973). p. 20.


Getting the addressee to do something is not an easy thing to do. The speaker must be careful with the language that he uses. He must use a language that will make the addressee willing to grant in his request (in case of imperatives), or provide the information (in case of questions) he needs. This must be why the subjects used Pilipino or Mix-mix for directives. A directive in the form of a hint was exemplified by A in the excerpt below:

This was a conversation between a play director and a participant of a coming school play. Here the latter (A) insinuated that the director (B) should change his role. A: Ako, kayo ayokong sumali, gusto ko bida (as for me, the reason why I

do not want to participate is that I want to have the lead role). Oh, you're still there (referring to the director).

B: Hindi hz pa puwedeng bida (you can't have the lead role yet). 0, sige, eto ang script mo (okay, here is your script).

Before the play director could give his role, A had given him a hint that he wanted an important role and may not participate if given any other. When expressed in Pilipino, A's statement sounded as a weak request. There was even a tone of a joke in it. It would have appeared a serious refusal had it been said in English. The speaker must have intentionally expressed it this way so that if this request was not granted or simply taken as a joke, he would not get embarassed. Although the director did not grant the request, he certainly did not miss the illocutionary force of the directive.

Pilipino was the choice of the subjects when they presupposed but not asserted something. In the following expressives truth was only presupposed. A was not certain whether B was in a better position than she but right away, she expressed her envy for the latter and discontentment for her present position. Here, A was neither trying to match the words with the world nor the world with the words. It was actually her emotions which she wanted to express. She was trying to match the words with her emotions and these words were in Pilipino. Maybe, for her and the majority of the Pilipino subjects in this study, Pilipino words matched Filipino emotions. Note that A's expressives were all in Pilipino while all her other sentences were in English.

B, a former co-teacher of A, came to visit them. A inquired about B's position in the school she was presently connected with. A: Where do you teach now, B, high school? B: College.


A: College. Smap ano (Enjoyable, isn't it)? You're not strict with the lesson plan anymore.

B: No lesson plan. You have your own syllabus. A: Buti ka pa . . . &mi nabubulokdito (you are much better off . . .we

are still rotting here). There was a very strong tendency toward the use of Mix-mix

by the subjects for the representative speech acts in the written texts. A similar tendency to use the same variety has been also manifested by them for the class of directives. For the rest of speech acts, no trend for any language preference was evident. It has been posited in the discussion of language functions that apparently, it was the sentence length and the complexity of structure that influenced the choice of language by the subjects in the written texts. It is, therefore, not very logical to claim that the speech acts or the speakers's intent had something to do with preference for mix-mix for the representatives and the directives.

Analysis of combined oral and written texts showed that the subjects preferred Mix-mix to either Pilipino or English sentences. The findings support the statement of Pascasio that to the Pili- pino-English bilinguals combined English and Pilipino, rather than either English or Pilipino features, has become a natural way of speaking and expressing ideas more e ~ p l i c i t l y . ~ Where Pilipino lacks a more precise term, English is used to fill the gap and vice- versa.

Whether in speaking or writing or both, the subjects' inclina- tion to utter sentences under the true-false dimension or the representative class of speech acts was beyond doubt. Since this was the most common speech act they performed, they use Mix- mix. Maybe, like many others, they felt that by doing so they were in the mainstream of contemporary Philippine life. Pilipino has undoubtedly gained acceptance from the Filipinos and the prevailing notion for the rapid development and spread of Pilipino is to go ahead with Mix-mix.3

F U N C T I O N S O F CODE-SWITCHING

The conversational and written functions of code-switching illustrated by the subjects were: quotations, addressee specifica-

38. Ibid., p. 120. 39. Sibayan, "Views on Language Identity."


tion, repetition, interjection, message qualification, personaliza- tion and objectivization and facility of expre~s ion .~ O

Q U O T A T I O N

In many instances, the subjects code-switched to quote themselves and others directly or indirectly, or simply to state a slogan or a maxim. Seemingly a quotation served as a proof that what they were saying were facts and that the addressee had to believe them. Example 3 clearly illustrates this:

The speaker was commenting on the inconsistency of the school policy on promotion. A. Sasabihin sa iyo (they will tell you). "You are promoted, however . . . May 'however' (there is the word however). It did not follow, though, that everytime the subjects quoted

themselves or others, they switched to another code. They only did so if they used a different code when they first expressed the message they were quoting. In other words, if they had used the same code when they first expressed the message they were now quoting, they would not have switched codes.

This was extracted from a written composition of a girl narrating an experience. . . . sabi ko sa kanila, "Maglaro tayo" ( I told them, Let's play") . . . So Kim shouted "Ay naku, salamat" (Oh thanks). From the examples given above, it can be deduced that the

subjects switched codes to preserve the originality of the message. I t is usually the case that a one-to-one correspondence between two languages very rarely exist^.^ So to avoid any distortion in the message, the subjects decided to use the language in which the message was originally stated.

A D D R E S S E E S P E C I F I C A T I O N

In the second set of examples the switch serves to direct the message to a specific person. This type of switching recognizes not only the interacting members of the speech events but also

40. Gumperz, "The Social Significance of Conversational Switching"; and Pascasio, "Dynamics of Code-Switching."

41. See J . Catford, A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguis- tics (London: Oxford University Press, 1966); and Eugene Nida, The Theory and Practice of Translarion (Leidon: United Bible Societies, 1974).


recognizes that their language behavior may be more than merely a matter of individual choice but also a matter of role relationship, age, intimacy among interlocutors. In certain situations, certain types of behaviors (including language behavior) are expected (if not required) of particular individuals vis-a-vis each other.4

A teacher heard that one of her pupils was asking permission from one of her co-teachers to leave the room to be able to rehearse football for the coming intramurals. The speaker (the teacher) used Pilipino when she told her co-teacher that she would not let her pupil leave the room during her period. She switched to English when she actually told the boy that he could not go. She switched back to Pilipino to murmur a threat. A: Hindi ko rin papayagan iyan (neither will I let him go). Hindi naman

nag-aural eh. (he does not study his lesson). No! I am not allowing you to go out. Kahit saan ka pa pumunta (even if you seek the permission from other people).

The reason for the speaker's switching was very discernible. In some schools in the Philippines the language of communication between the teachers and the students is English. The use of English does not only indicate the difference between their roles but it also encourages the students to speak the language they learn in school.

R E P E T I T I O N

Sometimes a message was repeated in another code, either literally or in somewhat modified form. Repetition may serve to clarify what is said, amplify or emphasize a message, or mark a joke.

A said something to B. The latter did not understand the former so C, A's mother, told her to say her message in Pilipino. C: Darling, magtagalog ka (Darling, speak Tagalog). Ate Christy does

not understand English. A: Ah! Ate Christy, i-stretch mo ang legs mo (stretch your legs). C: (laughing) Sabi ko (I said), "You speak Tagalog." Tagalog ba yan (is

that Tagalog)? Although C's first and third statements were in Mix-mix, the

actual message in the first sentence was in Pilipino. It was only the term of address that was in English. The message was what she re-

42. Ward Goodenough, "Rethinking 'Status' and 'Role': Toward a General Model of the Cultural Organization of Social Relationship," in The Relevance of'Models for Sockl Anthropology, ed. M. Banton (New York: Praeger, 1965). pp. 1-24.


peated in English (You speak Tagalog) when she felt that A did not understand her and failed to follow her instruction. A on the other hand, seemed unable to draw the distinction between Pili- pino and Mix-mix. After being instructed to speak Pilipino to be understood by B, she repeated her message in Mix-mix.

B wanted to leave but was unable to because A (the head teacher) was still explaining something. A. . . . Baba mo munang bag mo (put down your bag for the time being).

Mukhang importanteng-importanteng laman (it looks as if its contents are very important).

B. Ay nab! Oh yes! Millions! To claim that one has much money is not socially acceptable

among Filipinos who are known for their m ~ d e s t y . ~ B, in exam-. ple 7, repeated what she said in English in a slightly modified form to show that she meant it as a joke.

The subject in this example expressed a personal wish in Pilipino and repeated it in English in the latter part of his paragraph. By doing so he was able to clarify/amplify his message-that he was not merely wishing but rather expecting Crispa (his favorite basketball team) to win. . . . Sam manalo sila . . . I am expecting that Crispa will win.

I N T E R J E C T I O N S

Normally, the subjects used or switched to Pilipino when they uttered interjections. This can be ascribed to the fact that interjections express strong feelings or emotions and, as already ex- plained, Pilipino expressions describe Filipino emotions more aptly and accurately.

This was a conversation between two female teachers who had not seen each other for a long time. A told B that the picture, which belonged to A and which she sent B, was beautiful because her loved one was only a meter away when the picture was taken. A: He was only a meter away then. Naku! Diyos ko (Oh! My God!-

almost screaming). B: Kaya pala maganda, ano (That's why it's beautiful, isn't it)?

43. Delfin Batacan, The Filipinos Take a Second Look a t Themselves (Manila: Regal Publishing, 1977).

PHILIPPINE MIX-MIX 3 53

M E S S A G E Q U A L I F I C A T I O N

Another large group of switches consisted of qualifying cons- tructions as clauses, sentences and phrases. A considerable number of switching under this category was meant to express the time concept. The subject generally switched from Pilipino to English to specify time. Example 10 was only one among the many which can be found in the whole corpus.

Two teachers were supposed to meet one day in school. Both of them claimed that they came, but for some reason they did not meet each other. A: Nandito ako (I was here), B: Wala ka nto (You were not here). A: Nandito ako (I was here). Friday? Nandito ako (I was here). B: Not this Friday. Before All Saints' Day. Yun ang usapan (that was

the appointment day). Comments about the Filipinos' concept of time can be heard

not only among the Filipinos themselves but also among foreigners. For years, it has been an accepted fact that Filipinos do not conceive of time as something specific or exact. As Weiser re- marked, "Filipinos fail to comprehend the importance of time as viewed by We~terners."~ Perhaps, there is truth in this statement as far as Filipinos of long ago were concerned. Utterances expressing time concepts such as 'Monday', 'every 2:00 p.m.', 'thirty minutes', etc., were but a few examples in the date described in this study. This implies that the Filipinos of today have developed a sense of Western time. However, since specific time concept is not inherent in their own culture, they express it in English. Westerners, especially Americans, are believed by Filipinos to be time-conscious, hence they use their language (English) when they refer to precise timing. The other exainple of switching under this category served mainly a previous message which the speaker believed would be better understood in the other code.

P E R S O N A L I Z A T I O N A N D O B J E C T I V I Z A T I O N

In a very large group of instances, functions were somewhat difficult to specify in purely descriptive terms. The code contrast

44. Weiser.

3 54 PHILIPPINE STUDIES

here seemed to relate to such things as: the degree of speaker involvement in, or distance from, a message or an addressee, whether a statement reflects personal opinions, feelings or knowl- edge, refers to specific instances, or whether it has the status of a generally known fact.

This composition was about the coming basketball game between two of the country's most popular basketball teams-Crispa and Toyota. The subject in this example used English to express a personal wish. Here he was not only stating a message. He was expressing involvement in it. He would not only watch the game for fun. He would want his favorite team to win and would certainly be disappointed if it did not.

It's Crispa-Toyota deal. I'm one of the Crispa die-hard fans. Sana manalo sila ( I hope they win).

F A C I L I T Y O F E X P R E S S I O N

N.ot all instances of code alteration convey meaning.45 The texts contained several instances where the shift from Pilipino to English or vice-versa could only be interpreted as difficulty in finding the right words at the time of speaking or writing or merely as a sign of the subject's lack of familiarity with the style they were using. Example 12, taken from a composition written b y a grade six girl, is a typical example of a switching for facility of expression.

An excerpt from a composition written by a grade six girl about her peer group

My barkada's are Andrea, Maricris, Lora (My friends are . . .) They're minsan pikon and minsan good. (They are sometimes unable to take jokes and sometimes good). We are always together, sometimes nagkakuroon kami ng misunderstanding at madalas kaming mag-away (we sometimes misunderstand each other and we quarrel often). Always htksuhan (we love kidding each other), but if we are quarreling, lmti agad (we patch up things very quickly). Madalas ang pag-aaway namin because of b r a minsan, Maricris sometimes and minsan ako (we often quarrel be'cause of Lora sometimes, Maricris sometimes and sometimes because of me) . . . The composition above demonstrates instances of code-switch-

ing which ~ a b o v ~ ~ described as nonrule governed or idiosyn-

45. John Gumperz and Eduardo Hernandez, "Bilingualism, Bidialectalism, and Classroom Interaction," in Essays by John Gumperz, selected and introduced by Anwan Andil (Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press, 19711, pp. 311-39.

46. William Labov, "The Notion of System in Creole Languages," in the Pidginization and Creoliza tion of Languages, ed. Dell Hymes (Cam bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), pp. 447-72.


cratic-a concept which was not subscribed to by Gumperz4 ; Labov's argument hinged on his implicit definition of the term 'social' as limited phenomena, that showed statistically predict- able distribution within extralinguistically defined human groups. Labov did not attempt to account for listeners' ability to assign speakers to social categories, to place them within the spectrum of known social categories and to assess shared social b a c k g r ~ u n d . ~ The present study, just like Gumperz's, extendtxd the definition of the term 'social' to these latter phenomena, which already fell within the scope of sociological role theory, and dismissed the idea of code-switching as merely a matter of idiosyncratic behavior. As Gumperz claimed, code-switching occurred in conditions o f change, where group boundaries were diffused, norms and standards of evaluation varied and where speakers' ethnic identities and social backgrounds were not a matter of common agreement. This study therefore, worked on the assumption that if code-switching styles serve as functioning communicative systems and that if members could agree on interpretations of switching (as shown by the smooth flow of conversation among the subjects and the assumption of the writers that they would be understood by the readers even if they used Pilipino and English alternately), there are some irregularities and shared perceptions on which these judgements are based. The fact that Filipinos, switch codes for facility of expression implies that code-switching among them is neither nonrule-governed or idiosyncratic.

MIX-MIX A S A V A R I E T Y

M O R P H E M E S

The morphemes referred to in this paper are complex morphemes. They are neither free morphemes (those that can stand alone as in 'boy') nor bound morphemes (those that cannot stand alone and have to co-occur with a free morpheme, e.g. -s in 'boys') but a combination of b.oth. This type of morphemes is the occur- rence of mixing of English and Pilipino on the morphological level.

47. Gumperz, "The Social Significance," pp. 1-26. 48. Ibid.

3 56 PHILIPPINE STUDIES

The Mix-mix morphemes consist of a combination of an English free morpheme (an English base as in 'read') and a Pilipino bound morpheme (an affix as in 'nag-read') o r a loanword (English or Spanish in origin) plus an English bound morpheme (an affix) as in barkudas and resipes. Except for the last two examples given, all the other Mix-mix complex morphemes fall under the former category. The word barkadas is especially interesting because the root barkada is a loanword from Spanish, but the inflectional ending -s is from English.

The most common morphemic combination is Mix-mix in between an English base and a Pilipino affixlaffixes t o express aspects in Pilipino such as magpo-produce 'will produce' (con- templated), nakuka-dizzy 'makes one feel dizzy' (imperfective), and nag-emote 'emoted' (perfective). There are also a few basic forms such as malate 'to come late', aspectless gerunds (nominal- ized basic form of the verb in English) such as pagpe-prepare 'preparing or preparation', intensified adjectives such as busing- busy 'very busy' and verbs such as nagread ng nagread 'did a lot of reading'.

P H R A S E

The Mix-mix phrases fall into three types-nominal such as ang tuition fee 'the tuition fee', adjectival such as very mainit 'very warm' and adverbial such as sa chapel 'at the chapel'.

C L A U S E

A Mix-mix clause may have a Pilipino, an English, or an unclassified structure in the Underlying Semantic ~ e p r e s e n t a t i o n . ~ A Mix-mix clause with a Pilipino structure is one whose syntax is Pilipino but whose lexis has some English word substitution. The Underlying Semantic Representation (USR) of this may be analyzed as follows:

49. Ronald Langacre, Fun&rnentals of Linguistic Analysis (New York. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1972).

PHILIPPINE MIX-MIX

PREDICATE ARGUMENT

kaya nagma-market ng weekdays ako

(that's why I do my marketing during the weekdays)

A Mix-mix clause with English structure in the USR is one whose syntax is English but whose lexis has some Pilipino substitution as in '. . . don't be surprised na lang . . .' The Underlying Semantic Representation of this is something like this:

/-\ ARGUMENT PREDICATE

don't be surprised na lang

(just don't be surprised) Some clauses are elliptical and cannot be classified as Pilipino

or English. Even if they were reconstructed they would still present some problems of classification. Take 'Mabait, of course', as an example. The reconstructed form may either be 'Mabait siya, of course' or 'she is mabait, of course'. For this reason, a third classification has to be introduced - the unclassified structure in the USR. The following are examples, presented together with their Underlying Semantic Representation:

S \

PREDICATE ARGUMENT

& is mabait of course

I siya

ws- ARGUMENT PREDICATE

I she -

(she is good, of course) is mabait of course

358

SENTENCE

PHILIPPINE STUDIES

A Mix-mix sentence, is not different from a Mix-mix clause except that some Mix-mix sentences consist of two or more clauses. It has the same structures in its Underlying Semantic Representation as the Mix-mix clause. Its structure may either be Pilipino, English or unclassified. However, another classification is introduced to account for Mix-mix sentences with two different structures (Pilipino and English) even in the USR as in 'Mahuhusay din yung iba, but these two were really different'. The Underlying Semantic Representation of this sentence is as follows:

mahuhusay din yung iba

ARGUMENT PREDICATE

these two were really different

(The others are skillful too but these two were really different.)


The other very important studies on Mix-mix have been done by Bautista and Pascasia.' The former, however, was limited to the structural description of Mix-mix based on the utterances in the radio program Pulong-pulong sa Kaunlaran, while the latter was limited to the conversational functions of code-switching among Filipinos in the business domains. The present study in- cludes both and based the analysis/description of this language variety on oral conversations and written compositions of a wider range of subjects.

C O N C L U S I O N

Code-switching does not necessarily indicate imperfect knowl- edge of the grammatical systems in question. The process carries clear semantic meanings. I t is true that in some instances, code alteration is motivated by the speaker's inability to find the right words to express what he/she wants to say in one of the other codes. In the majority of cases, however, the code-switched information can be equally expressed in the other language. Consideration of intelligibility, facility of expression, and even educational attainment, important as they are in some cases, cannot be the determining factor.

50. See Lourdes Bautista, "The Filipino Bilingual's Competence: A Model Based on Analysis of Tagalog-English Code-Switching" (Ph.D. dissertation, Ateneo de Manila University. 1974); and Pascasio, "Dynamics of CodeSwitching," pp. 40-50.

Download - A Note on Philippine Mix-Mix · A Note on Philippine Mix-mix ELIZABETH M. MARASIGAN This article is an analysis of Mix-mix (combination of Pilipino and English at different language

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